1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an amorphous aluminosilicate (hereinafter referred to as "AMAS") particle-containing polymer comprising AMAS solid particles having a bactericidal action and an organic polymer. The present invention also pertains to a process for producing said AMAS particle-containing polymer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known for long that silver, copper and zinc ions have an antibacterial action. For example, silver ions have heretofore been widely used as a disinfectant in the form of an aqueous solution such as silver nitrate. However, silver in the form of a solution is inconvenient to handle and, therefore, the range of use of silver as a disinfectant is disadvantageously limited. Accordingly, if the above-described metal ions are held on polymers, it is possible to reduce the number of described disadvantages and expect the metal ions to be used in a wide range of fields. There have heretofore been proposed various methods of allowing polymers to hold metal ions. For example, a method in which filaments or powder of a metal is bonded or added to a polymer and a method in which a polymer is allowed to contain a metallic compound are well known. However, the former method that utilizes a metal itself suffers from the following disadvantages. Since the specific gravity and Young's modulus of a metal are considerably higher than those of an ordinary polymer, the compatibility of the metal with the polymer is inferior. Further, since a relatively large amount of metal is needed, the overall weight is increased and the production cost is raised. On the other hand, the latter method that utilizes a metallic compound has the problem that the metallic compound has a large effect on the polymer so that the range of use of the product is considerably limited. Even in the case where the effect of the compound on the polymer is not considerable, since the metal ions are merely contained in or attached to the polymer, a large amount of metal ions fall from the polymer during use. Thus, such conventional practice is unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of the lasting quality of the bactericidal power and effects. In order to improve the above-described disadvantages, there has been proposed a method wherein a polymer is allowed to contain an organofunctional group having ion exchange capacity or complexing capacity and this organofunctional group is allowed to hold metal ions. However, in this method also, the interaction between the organofunctional group and the polymer is not ignorable, and in order to avoid a considerable change in the physical properties of the polymer it is necessary to employ polymers and organofunctional groups which may be selected from the extremely limited ranges, and use a limited amount of organofunctional group, irrespective of whether an organofunctional group is introduced into a polymeric chain or an organofunctional group-containing compound is added to a polymer.
In view of these circumstances, the present inventors made various efforts to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art and, as a result, the inventors have found that a polymer which contains AMAS (amorphous aluminosilicate) particles holding antibacterial metal ions at ion exchange sites on and with particles of amorphous aluminosilicates is physically stable and has high heat resistance and this polymer enables an ideal antibacterial or bactericidal action by the antibacterial metal ions in an excited state. Thus, the above-described polymer is expected to be effectively and widely utilized. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of this finding.